I don't know the mathematical explanations of this, so I am wondering if you would you say that the crest is the photon? If so, the trough seems to being negating the photon for the moment that they meet. Is this right?blue_leaf77 said:The crest in the electric/magnetic field is the electric/magnetic field vector with the largest magnitude, it's not the energy. The energy in an electromagnetic wave is proportional to the quantity
$$
\int \int |\mathbf{E}(\mathbf{r}_\perp,t)|^2 d\mathbf{r}_\perp dt
$$.
where ##\mathbf{r}_\perp## are coordinates in the transverse plane.
student34 said:I don't know the mathematical explanations of this, so I am wondering if you would you say that the crest is the photon? If so, the trough seems to being negating the photon for the moment that they meet. Is this right?
It follows from the definition of intensity as the energy density passing through a transverse plane per unit area per unit time. Intensity is proportional to the magnitude squared of electric field. If you want to get the energy, you then need to do the inverse operation as that to obtain the intensity, namely integrate intensity over the transverse area and then integrate with time.student34 said:I don't know the mathematical explanations of this, so I am wondering if you would you say that the crest is the photon? If so, the trough seems to being negating the photon for the moment that they meet. Is this right?
The trough in destructive interference of electromagnetic (EM) waves refers to the point of minimum amplitude in the combined wave resulting from the superposition of two or more waves with opposite phases.
The trough is formed when two or more EM waves with the same frequency and amplitude overlap and their peaks and valleys line up in opposite directions, causing them to cancel each other out.
The trough represents the point of complete cancellation of EM waves, resulting in zero amplitude and no energy being transferred at that point. This is important in applications such as noise cancellation and creating standing waves.
The distance between the sources of EM waves affects the position of the trough by changing the phase relationship between the waves. As the distance increases, the phase shift between the waves also increases, resulting in a shift in the position of the trough.
Yes, the position and amplitude of the trough can be manipulated by changing the frequency, amplitude, and phase of the EM waves. This is commonly done in applications such as signal processing, noise cancellation, and creating interference patterns.